Founders of Ground Zero mosque seek public funding
Planners of Muslim community center in lower Manhattan apply for $5 million government grant from funds allocated for rehabilitation of businesses harmed by 9/11 attacks
WASHINGTON – Founders of the Ground Zero mosque continue to stir debate. The planners of Park51, who have been having difficulty raising money for the project, decided to apply for a state grant for the sum of $5 million.
The petitioners are requesting the funds from an aid agency for small businesses in Lower Manhattan, established to help businesses that were harmed following the 9/11 attack.
Following the events of 2001, the Federal Government allocated $2 billion to assist business owners whose livelihood was jeopardized following the collapse of the Twin Towers.
Recently, businessman Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the mosque and community center near Ground Zero, filed an official request to use these funds for the developments and construction of the real-estate project dubbed Park51.
Police officers securing future mosque site (Photo: AFP)
According to El-Gamal, the project satisfies all the required criteria in order to receive financial aid, although most New York residents oppose the construction of a mosque only two blocks away from Ground Zero.
"Park51 remains committed to exploring all sources of revenue and funding to build the community center in Lower Manhattan," El- Gamal told The New York Times.
"It is important to note that this community center will provide hundreds of construction jobs over the next few years and when opened will provide 150 permanent jobs," he added.
The mosque will be part of a Muslim community center, and its construction – despite being completely legal – has stirred a massive debate in New York and across the United States, prompting the intervention of President Barack Obama, who supported the organizers' right to build the mosque.
El-Gamal, who was born in Brooklyn, stated that he plans to raise the $140 million required for the project. So far, he has only managed to obtain a small portion of the sum, while those opposed to the project closely monitor his funding sources, to make sure none of them come from foreign investors.
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